Hello @all,
what a great day :-). First, thanks a lot for creating "cobbler". It
is really cool.
Today I got a 100% fully automatic installation for "Debian Lenny"
started/running :-). 5 days ago, I tested it with CentoS 5.2 and it
worked like a charm. So today, my goal was to do the same with Debian -
and it works really well.
Because I had some trouble at the beginning, I thought it is a great
idea to tell others what I did to get this setup running.
---snip---
Hardware/Distri Deployer:
- Virtualbox Image
- Fedora 10 i386
- with cobbler 1.4.3
Test Environment:
- Virtualbox Images using PXE boot (internal Virtualbox network)
# required steps on the cobbler Host
Get Debian
- Debian-Lenny-CD1.iso from
debian.org
(e.g.
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.0/i386/iso-cd/debian-500-i386-CD-...)
- mini.iso from
debian.org
(e.g.
http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/imag...)
# Creating directories and mounting the iso images
mkdir -p /mnt/debian-lenny
mkdir -p /mnt/debian-lenny-mini
mount -o loop /path/debian-lenny-cd5.iso /mnt/debian-lenny
mount -o loop /path/debian-mini.iso /mnt/debian-lenny-mini
# Importing both debian images to cobbler
cobbler import --name="debian-5.0" --mirror=/mnt/debian-lenny --
rsync-flags="--quiet"
cobbler import --name="debian-5.0-mini" --mirror=/mnt/debian-lenny-
mini --rsync-flags="--quiet"
# Unmounting iso images
umount /mnt/debian-lenny
umount /mnt/debian-lenny-mini
# Create new initrd.gz file
# With the default initrd.gz from the netboot image (mini.iso) I had
some troubles with
# the hard disc detection (missing ide_generic; ide_disc; libata
module and so on)
mkdir -p /tmp/lenny_initrd
mkdir -p /tmp/mini_initrd
cd /tmp/lenny_initrd
zcat /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/debian-5.0/install.386/initrd.gz |
cpio -iv
cd /tmp/mini_initrd
zcat /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/debian-5.0-mini/initrd.gz | cpio -iv
cp -a /tmp/lenny_initrd/lib/modules/2.6.26-1-486/kernel/drivers/ata
lib/modules/2.6.26-1-486/kernel/drivers
cp -a /tmp/lenny_initrd/lib/modules/2.6.26-1-486/kernel/drivers/ide/
* lib/modules/2.6.26-1-486/kernel/drivers/ide/
# package new initrd.gz file
find . | cpio --quiet -H newc --create | gzip > /tmp/initrd.gz
cd /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/debian-5.0-mini/
mv initrd.gz initrd.gz.orig
mv /tmp/initrd.gz .
# Edit new created debian image and replace/set new kernel/initrd
# and other relevant informations
cobbler distro edit --name="debian-5.0" --kernel="/var/www/cobbler/
ks_mirror/debian-5.0-mini/linux" --initrd=/var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/
debian-5.0-mini/initrd.gz --kopts="lang=de_DE local=de_DE
interface=auto hostname=auto domain=auto priority=critical console-
keymaps=at/keymap=de"
# Create a preseeding file for debian lenny (a german version can be
downloaded here)
#
http://www.ma-c.de/cobbler/lenny.seed
cp lenny.seed to /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/
# Edit debian profile and specify preseeding file
cobbler profile edit --name="debian-5.0-i386" --kickstart="/var/lib/
cobbler/kickstarts/lenny.seed"
# sync cobbler
cobbler sync
# Start your client systems with booting from PXE and enjoy a fully
automatic installation with Debian Lenny (powered by cobbler -> of
course :-) )
# Feedback is very welcome.
---snap---
Best wishes from Germany,
Matthias